1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to telecommunications systems and, more specifically, to a Sender-Address-Based Telecommunications operator call-back System and Method
2. Description of Related Art
Domestic and international callback has become a widely offered technology to assist companies and individuals to drastically reduce their long distance telephone charges. Since its introduction, companies in the United States and abroad have been overwhelmed by the demand for this new technology. Both domestic and international long distance charges are reduced because instead of routing calls through the local phone companies (either domestically or internationally), the callback system routes the calls through networks that are in place in the United States (at bulk pricing that tends to be much lower than that available to the public).
Conventionally, the callback process has required the user to dial an assigned telephone number, after which a variety of steps must be conducted; an example of one system is provided in FIG. 1.
FIG. 1 depicts the conventional callback process 10. As shown, the process 10 for a user to make a telephone call using the conventional callback system commences with the caller dialing a DID (“direct inward dialing”) telephone number 100. A DID phone number is a U.S.-based telephone number that is taken from a block of telephone numbers licensed by the callback service provider. When a subscriber begins service with a callback service provider, he or she is assigned their own personal DID phone number, which is now they access the callback services.
Subsequent to dialing their DID phone number, the caller must listen for the dialed number to ring 102. Upon hearing the ringing, the caller hangs up their telephone 104. These steps 100 through 104 constitute a “Manual Trigger” 126 of the conventional callback system; it is referred to as a “trigger” because it triggers the callback system to begin to provide an outgoing call to the caller.
Once triggered, the conventional callback system will cross-reference the DID phone number with a particular caller telephone number 106. The caller telephone number is recorded by the callback service during the account creation process as discussed more fully below in connection with FIG. 3. The “cross-referencing” described herein consists of the callback system searching its data files to determine what telephone number the caller would like to be called at (as recorded in connection with a particular DID phone number). Presumably, a programmable computer conducts this cross-referencing.
Next, the callback system dials the caller phone number 108 connected with the DID phone number dialed. When their phone rings, the caller must answer their telephone (the caller phone number) 110. Upon answering the call from the callback system, the caller would hear a dial tone 112. The caller then dials the “called phone number” 114; the called phone number is that country or area code and phone number for the number that the caller wishes to talk to. After receiving the called phone number from the caller, the callback system will dial the called telephone number 116. Once the called person answers their phone 118, the caller and the called person may conduct their conversation as they would normally.
Upon completion of the call 120, the caller can end the call by hanging up 122; alternatively, he or she may press a button on their telephone that informs the callback system that they desire to make another telephone call 124. If the caller does this, he or she will be returned to step 112, where the callback system will provide him or her with a dial tone. If we now turn to FIG. 2, we can examine an alternate embodiment of the conventional callback process.
FIG. 2 depicts a conventional email trigger process 12 for the system depicted in FIG. 1. First, the caller drafts a triggering email that includes that caller's unique DID phone number in its subject line 200. This triggering email could be of the conventional type (i.e. generated on a personal computer), or it might be one using the “Short Message Service” (SMS) that is provided by many cellular telephone service providers.
Next, the caller sends the triggering email to the conventional callback system 202. These two steps (200 and 202) comprise the conventional email trigger process 204; once these two steps have been conducted, the conventional process discussed above in connection with FIG. 1 resumes at step #106. It should be recognized that the caller telephone number referred to in this process 12 is the same telephone number referred to in the process of FIG. 1. In other words, it does not matter whether the caller triggers the callback system manually or by email—the callback system will call the same caller phone number in either case. If we turn, now to FIG. 3, we can examine how a potential customer might set up a new account with the conventional callback service provider.
FIG. 3 depicts a conventional account activation process for the system 14 depicted in FIGS. 1 and 2. First, the prospective customer contacts the callback service 300. Next, the prospective customer is asked to answer a questionnaire 302. The questionnaire will request information necessary to qualify the prospect as a customer of the callback system, such as identification of the person, their payment method, and their caller phone number. If the prospective customer is qualified as a callback service customer 304 under the conventional system, they are given the alternative of electing to become an actual customer of the conventional callback service. Once he or she elects to become an actual customer of the service 306, the customer is assigned a unique DID phone number 308. It is only after assignment of this unique DID phone number that the customer account is made functional 310.
The problem with this DID-based callback service is one of the inefficiency and therefore cost related to the assignment of individual DID numbers. Essentially, the callback service must assign 100% of the capacity for a single phone number to a single customer; when a particular block of leased phone numbers is exhausted, new numbers must be licensed, even if the numbers in the previous block are totally unused. What would be preferred would be a system that was scalable by call volume, rather than by the number of customers; that way, expansion (and the corresponding cost) need only be pursued in response to call volume rather than customer volume.